The tragedy has prompted a tourism operator to call for better emergency facilities.

In the video above, tributes flow for Dean Sanderson who fell in the Daintree Rainforest

Locals say thousands of tourists each year lose mobile reception when they cross north across the Daintree River to Cape Tribulation, where Adelaide dad Dean Sanderson died and his wife Shannon was seriously injured on Tuesday.

The closest emergency services are based about a 1.5 hour drive from Mossman, south of the remote tourism hub.

'No nothing'

Owner of Ferntree Rainforest Lodge, Mark Cromwell, says the tragedy highlights the lack of emergency services in the area.

"Businesses have been concerned with the amount of visitors we have here," said Mr Cromwell, whose property has been used as an emergency helicopter landing pad.

"You've got no mobile phone coverage, no ambulance, no police, no nothing (here)."

He said a response time may not have saved Mr Sanderson, who fell 16 metres.

But he said "minutes save lives, and here we're (dealing) in the hours."

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'No mobile phone coverage, no ambulance, no police, no nothing'.

He said the few hundred locals in the area were used to having no reception.

But tourists - encouraged by tourism bodies to visit the country's largest rainforest - are often unprepared.

"They get across the ferry and they can't call anyone, then they're just lost," he told AAP.

"It's old school - you've got to take a map. It's really only the (local) community who get them to their homes.

"For the emergency services side of things, something desperately needs to happen."

Douglas Shire Mayor Julia Leu told the Cairns Post on Thursday that she urged "the relevant ministers to review and investigate the possibility of additional emergency services and resources north of the Daintree River".

Family tribute

Mr Sanderson's family has paid tribute to the 50 year old, also calling for privacy as his wife recovers.

"Our family is mourning the tragic loss of our husband, father and great friend Dean Sanderson after an accident at Cape Tribulation in Queensland yesterday," the family said in a statement.